Concert Ukuleles – FAQ & Buyer’s Guide!

There are many types of Ukuleles, which are lute family instruments. The options to choose from are a soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone, and they come in a number of configurations including four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings. Some ukulele string configurations are paired giving the instrument a total of six or eight strings.

Ukulele’s originated in Hawaii after Portuguese immigrants from Madeira and Azores brought the Portuguese Machete, which is a small lute instrument that is similar to a small guitar in structure. From Hawaii to the US, the Ukulele became a popular instrument at the dawn of the 20th century, and its popularity only increased over time.

Now let’s take a look at the five best concert ukulele’s on the market today.

This is the 24” Lohanu (LU-C) Concert Ukulele made from Sapele mahogany wood.

Performance

This is another exceptional deal; the Lohanu LU-C is one of the leading concert ukuleles on the market. This kit comes with all the features you would expect from a leading ukulele brand.

The LU-C is made from Sapele mahogany wood and comes with a rosewood fingerboard, handmade ABS bindings and chrome die-cast tuning gears with Aquila Nylgut® strings. This combination of materials and design provide an easy to manage to learn uke with perfect pitch and tone.

This package comes with a high-quality concert ukulele, an electronic tuning device with batteries, a uke carry bag that is rugged and water resistant, as well as a sturdy ukulele strap and two picks.

Features

24” Sapele wood concert Ukelele

Rosewood fingerboard

Aquila Nylgut® strings

Electronic tuner

Bag, straps, and picks

Recommendations

When it comes to comprehensive and easy to use, its hardtop beat the Lohanu models. They come with all the necessary accessories for a perfect beginner’s experience.

Performance

Cordoba guitars were founded in 1997, and started by fabricating classical Spanish guitars with all the individual crafted designs and features handmade. The Cordoba models are all designed to be lightweight, responsive, and a direct descendant tradition and heritage.

Apart from guitars, Cordoba makes an exceptional line of ukuleles including their classic concert models. The designs come in a number of options and include a number of models with the 15 model at the basic level, and going up to their 30 series models, that are their high-end products. The difference between the models are the wood and materials used in the uke’s construction, where the 15 and 20 series are mahogany, the 22 series uses spruce and rosewood, the 23 series uses Ovangkol, the 24 series uses cedar with spalted maple and the 25 series uses acacia. While the 30 series is their top of the line, the 15 series is designed for beginners and is built to introduce novices into the wonderful world of ukulele playing.

The 15CM comes with a mahogany top, back, and sides, giving you a full, rich sound. The abalone-style rosette and ivoroid body combined with the fingerboard binding put this ukulele apart from other models in its category.

This model also comes with a sleek satin finish, silver tuners with pearl buttons, and premium Aquila strings. The bottom line is that while this is a beginners model, its suited for professionals too, and can be used as a practice to the performance model.

Features

Concert size

Mahogany top, back, and sides

Abalone-style rosette

Ivoroid body and fingerboard binding

Satin finish

Aquila Nylgut 7U Strings

Recommendations

This is one exceptional ukulele, and with a pedigree of Cordoba Guitars behind it, you won’t get better performance for the price you pay.

Performance

The Donner DUC-1 Ukulele is an exceptional and laid back concert uke that is designed for every level of performance. This model comes with great sound and tone control and delivers a rich, clear sound from its Japanese carbon strings. The strings are so smooth that they handle soft young fingers as well as hard picks with ease.

The DUC-1 Craftsmanship is bound to precision, and this model goes through 100 fabrication steps before it reaches the market. The materials are also hand-selected for each model, and they are made from materials that are cured to withstand high humidity and dryness, which can warp poorly made instruments on different weather conditions.

The final test is in the dimensions and distance of the strings to the frets and fingerboard, which are made to match perfectly in the DUC-1.

This is a 23” concert ukulele made from African mahogany with 18 fret dots inlays, concentric ring rosette and Fret position Marks at 5th, 7th, 10th, and 12th location.

Features

Traditional Concert Ukulele

Mahogany body

4 Japanese carbon nylon string

18 Brass Frets with Fret position Marks at 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th frets on neck and top of fingerboard

Included in the set are a ukulele bag, ukulele strap, carbon nylon string, and digital clip-on tuner as gifts

Recommendations

This is a very comfortable ukulele with a nice compilation of accessories and is recommended as a great beginner’s model.

Performance

The Lohanu Electric Cutaway Version comes with a Cutaway body and head, Electric pickup, 3 band EQ with built in Tuner. This model is designed to be connected to an amp and used as a training and performance instrument.

If its extra power, and louder sounds that you seek, this is the model you want. This Lohanu eclectic concert uke is designed to plug into an amp and speaker system and give you the power of the uke in any sized room, for any size audience.

This model is a 24” concert model that is made from Sapele mahogany and comes with a rosewood fingerboard, Handmade ABS Bindings, and Chrome die cast tuning gears with Aquila Nylgut strings.

Features

24” Sapele wood soprano Ukelele

Rosewood fingerboard

Aquila Nylgut® strings

Electronic tuner

Bag, straps, and picks

Recommendations

What can I say more? This is a perfect electric ukulele, concert model size that delivers exceptional performance with amp powered sounds.

Performance

Enya is a major force in the ukulele market and is recognized as powerful performance providers that deliver quality instruments at affordable prices.

This model is a 23” long model with ebony (richlite) fingerboard and laminate Koa body. The use of a Koa laminate reduces the price significantly and raises the strength and durability of this model to perform in any environment.

This is a great concert model for beginners to learn the trade, as well as performers that do a lot of traveling and road shows. As such, it withstands all the bangs and scratches as well as adapts to all weather and humidity levels without changing the tone and character of the music.

This model uses a slotted guitar headstock with a mahogany BT neck attachment. The body and sides are made from laminate Koa, and the fingerboard is Richlite ebony. The tuner is high end open to Enya carbon fiber strings, and the models finish is matte.

Richlite ebony is a proprietary material that does not warp or change its performance characteristics over a wide range of temperatures and humidity levels.

Features

BT Junction Technology

Richlite Ebony

HPL (High-pressure Laminate) Koa

Carbon fiber strings

Recommendations

This is a high-end laminate product that is designed for serious performers that move around all over the states and need a reliable and rugged uke that won’t change its performance characteristics.

How to Pick a Concert Ukulele?

Concert ukeleles are the second tier models after soprano, their size range varies from 15” to 21” overall length and produces a deeper tone with a louder output. The sound, however, is basically similar to a soprano. The average concert uke’s configuration will be around the 23” mark, and its neck is longer than a soprano with more room in between the frets. As such, for bigger fingers, it’s easier to control and use.

Some Buying Tips

Don’t be cheap with your ukulele, if you intend to buy one to learn on you need to consider that buying cheap will reduce your chances of learning to play significantly. What you will also get when you invest in a quality item are exotic woods and materials that enhance the sound, some nice cosmetic features that make the uke nice to look at as well as play. You get solid wood and in some instances electronics for connecting to an amp. The bottom line is that in Ukulele’s there is little room for movement, so the more you spend, the better the uke.

However, you don’t need to buy a custom built uke, what you need to do is just avoid cheap ukuleles that deliver construction issues, structural integrity, loos fitments, bad sting alignments, and cheap materials. If you buy a really cheap ukulele, you will end up being discouraged and will end up throwing it away in frustration. Solid woods vs. laminated wood

Budget-friendly models will come in laminated wood, while the higher end and professional models will be made from all wood construction. Laminated wood has an advantage over all natural wood in that it is stronger and less prone to the splitting and cracking. However, the all wood models a have a more resonant sound that delivers a richer and mellower tone.

The natural woods used in Ukulele construction include:

Koa is a native Hawaii wood and is dense. This was the traditional wood of choice for ukuleles. It is still considered the wood of choice and brings beautiful grain patterns, a wide range of colors, and balanced tone. Acacia is botanically related to Koa, delivers similar properties and is considered to be the alternative to Koa instruments.

Mahogany is usually sued for the neck and is a growing global tree so much more popular in most models for price and design variations.

Spruce has sprung up in recent times and is very popular with guitar makers. Spruce has a dense grain and produces loud, bright tones.

Cedar is a soft wood and delivers a mellow tone; these are popular for tenor and baritone ukuleles. Redwood is very popular and is placed between spruce and cedar for tone, although it gives a warmer and clearer tone than both.

Rosewood is mainly used in fretboards and is a dense, hardwood that adds color and design appeal.

There are many more woods being used, but these are the main and most popular ones.

Acoustic-electric ukuleles:

Just like all lute family instruments, you will find electric ukuleles too, and these come with a variety of electronic components integrated into their bodies. In most cases, these are uke’s come with an onboard preamplifier to an external amplifier or sound system.

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